Seán Ó Fearghaíl — 2024-02-08

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

CC Seán Ó Fearghaíl · Kildare South

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Summary of this debate

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Unfortunately, a private arrangement was entered into for the last 15 years between the then owners of Castletown House and the State to gain access to Castletown House and the car park via the M4, which was sufficient to cater to any needs the State might have for the maintenance and servicing of the house and its environs. The key challenge remains that the OPW does not have vehicular access to Castletown House and estate. Without vehicular access for the OPW staff at Castletown, it will not be possible to welcome school tours, active retirement groups and other visitors to Castletown House in 2024.

The key challenge remains that vehicular access is required for the OPW staff to access Castletown House and estate due to local community protests. As has been made clear to the local community, the OPW does not have any permission to access Castletown House and estate from the M4 access road.

Built by scoring every sentence in the debate on how distinctive its language is, then quoting the highest-scoring ones back word for word and in the order spoken. Nothing is paraphrased or invented — if a sentence appears here, it was said in the chamber. Drawn from 5,526 words across 13 contributions by 5 speakers.

Most used terms in this debate

How often each word appears across the whole debate, ranked by how distinctive it is to this debate rather than common to all parliamentary language.

castletown 25

opw 30

trams 13

luas 17

citywest 14

tram 9

transdev 7

estate 14

red 15

childcare 13

line 22

services 26

The full debate

All 1 contribution, start to finish, in the order they were made. The one you came here for is highlighted.

CC Seán Ó Fearghaíl this contribution

We may proceed as the Deputy who submitted the first selected Topical Issue and the Minister of State who is responding are present. Before we start, I am reminded that, for many years, we had a superb individual in the Government Whip's office, Alice Kearney, who had the ability to foresee the future. She always ensured that Ministers and other participants were in the Chamber when the time for the Topical Issue debate arrived. However, we are where we are. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, to deal with the first important matter I have selected, which is from Deputy Mairéad Farrell.